A heavy storm left flooding and chaos as it passed through Brussels on Wednesday night, with traffic tunnels shut down since the early evening and power outages reported in the capital's municipalities.
Residents of several streets in Brussels and Ixelles were struck by a power outage at around midnight. The power cut lasted well into the night, as electricity was only reestablished at around 3:00 AM.
Severely flooded under the intense showers, many of the capital's main traffic tunnels — Vleurgat, Stéphanie, Arts-Loi et Georges-Henri— reopened just in time for rush hour in the early hours of Thursday, at around 5:00 AM, after they had remained shut down for most of the night.
In the municipality of Anderlecht, a gym became completely flooded as water poured directly through its roof and onto the sporting equipment.
In total, emergency response services were called to intervene 88 times, with the majority of calls being about flooded houses, streets and roads.
The Bois de la Cambre, heavily rattled by the strong wind and showers, is expected to reopen on Thursday morning, after being shut to the public at around 20:30 on Wednesday.
The Royal Meteorological Service (IRM) had issued an orange storm alert for the eastern part of Belgium, predicting heavy rain, hail, and damaging gusts of wind.
The Brussels Times
